Breaking Bonds
by Ai Tennshi
Summary: Ozai's Angels following the events of The Boiling Rock. Friendship, spoilers, sadness, and breaking bonds.


**Author's Notes**: Just another one-shot of speculation on the betrayal from The Boiling Rock. Enjoy!

_Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable from Avatar: The Last Airbender as far as the episode The Boiling Rock._

**Breaking Bonds**

She had not expected it.

She had expected the betrayals of her uncle and brother. They were sentimental and silly, and she had never expected anything less of them. In fact, it had been shocking how _long_ it took Zuko to figure out that he wanted to betray her.

She had _not_ expected the only two people in the world that she considered as 'friends' to turn their backs on her.

Mai was mildly understandable. Because she _loved_ Zuko. The cold, ruthless girl, _loving_ Azula's brother? The mere thought was laughable, yet it was understandable. Years and _years_ of friendship...and she, the calm, rational one of the group, abandons it because of a few weeks' worth of emotion? It would appear that Mai was more of the emotional type than she let on.

Then Ty Lee went as well, and Azula couldn't explain it to save her life. _She_ had always been there for Ty Lee as much as, if not more than, Mai had been. What warranted cutting Azula off for Mai's sake? What had Mai ever done for Ty Lee that Azula hadn't?

But then again, what use did Azula have for friends? Friends had freedom; obviously, granting freedom to those whom she fought with was wrong. Placing faith in them was wrong. It just made possible betrayals that were otherwise avoidable. The Princess and heir to the throne of the Fire Nation needed no friends; only subordinates.

—————

When Zuko locked Mai into the interrogation room at the Boiling Rock, Mai felt that last shred of something die inside of her. She had held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, Zuko's decision had been made a little more difficult because he loved her and didn't want to leave her. But when, at a moment's notice, he rushed across the room and slammed the door with nothing but a brief look of apology through the small window in the door, the truth of the matter struck Mai with full force.

If Zuko's decision had been hindered by his love for Mai at all, that hindering was so small it was near insignificant. To Mai, that meant that either Zuko didn't love her at all, or that the cause that he was now fighting for was so great that it reduced his love for her to no more than a small, insignificant speck.

For all Mai knew, Zuko _didn't_ love her. He'd never told her he did, after all. Their relationship had been brief and brittle—it was nearly broken by a bit of jealousy. But Mai loved him, and she knew that Zuko felt something for her. Their time together may have been brief, but it had existed, nonetheless. Zuko's look of apology had been telling as well—he hadn't rushed off without a backwards glance, at least. But that meant that Zuko's cause, his reason to turn his back on his country, was important to him.

Mai could have cared less. So what if Zuko was fighting for a 'greater cause' of which Mai knew nothing? It obviously reduced their relationship to nothing. Mai was ready to turn her back on Zuko and never see or talk to him again.

But no one had ever escaped the Boiling Rock alive. It was an impressive reputation when the ones trying to escape were all traitors and war prisoners and murderers.

So what if someone you loved was trying to escape?

Mai should have abandoned Zuko to whatever horrible fate awaited him. She knew she had every right to do so. He probably wouldn't even blame her in the slightest. Yet...she didn't want anything bad to befall Zuko.

Somehow, whatever he was fighting for didn't matter. It didn't even matter that he'd dumped her in one of the most insensitive, cold blooded, brutal ways possible.

All that mattered was that she cared for Zuko, no matter what he may have done, and didn't want him to die.

Her friendship with Azula crossed her mind for the first time as she broke down the door of the room in which Zuko had locked her. Whatever else their 'friendship' may have been, it had certainly made life interesting. Mai would never deny that it had been fun to be one of the two best friends of the Princess of the fire Nation. There were all sorts of perks that went with the position, and above all, it had been _fun_. Their friendship had, at the very least, been (somewhat) real. Mai even had a bit of affection—albeit deep, _deep_ down—for Azula. But that affection was nothing compared to what she felt for Zuko, and when you came right down to it, Mai never turned on Azula because of the terrible things that Azula would do to her if she were betrayed.

Mai didn't stand a chance against Ty Lee _and_ Azula, and she would only be able to help up until the point at which the two of them got to her. After that, she was at Azula's mercy—if Azula had any, that was. It would be horrible, there was no doubt about that, and Mai wouldn't be surprised if Azula put her through the worst possible punishment she could think of.

But for Zuko, Mai supposed, it might be worth it.

—————

Ty Lee had never thought particularly deeply about her only two friendships, and on the rare occasion that she did, she pretended that she hadn't.

She didn't precisely _pretend_ to act shallow. She honestly enjoyed looking pretty and getting boys' attention and flirting and doing acrobatics. She honestly liked sitting around chatting with (or at, as the situation generally tended to be) Mai about everything and nothing while Mai helped her out with her hair. She honestly enjoyed insisting upon doing Mai and Azula's hair for them, and making silly comments at them that made them roll their eyes and call her shallow or ditsy.

But that wasn't all she thought about. She sometimes wondered if she would have had other friends if she and Mai hadn't been essentially drafted as the Princess's personal fighters. She wondered if she would have received the same respect, if she and Mai still would have been friends, if life still would have been a fun and so full of the unexpected.

She sometimes wondered if she would have just been one among her sisters otherwise. She wondered if she would have had _any_ friends at all, let alone ones who were so entertaining to be with. She wondered if half so many boys would have been interested in her if she hadn't been the Princess's acrobatic best friend—just one more pretty girl.

Either way, she was positive that life couldn't be half so good as it was now. The thought of leaving Azula never really crossed her mind. Sure, Azula had threatened her into leaving the circus, but she'd needed help, and friends were meant to help friends, right? Ty Lee may have had to leave the circus, but it wasn't like she was sitting around in boredom.

It had never really crossed Ty Lee's mind that things could go so wrong. When Mai turned on Azula, Ty Lee only stood behind Azula as always, and could scarcely think through her bemusement. She just looked on blankly as Mai took out men loyal to the Fire Nation, and then as Azula turned on Mai.

And when Azula made a move to attack Mai, Ty Lee struck.

She blinked, staring at her long-time friend as she slid to the ground. Had she just attacked Azula? It took a few moments of thought before she realized that yes, she really had.

Shocking, really.

Then again, when Ty Lee had had boy problems, or a bad hair day, or any other problem, Mai had always been the one to come help her. Azula had always simply called Mai to the rescue. When the time to choose a side came, maybe it wasn't so shocking that Ty Lee had chosen Mai, whatever the consequences.

—————

A week after Mai and Ty Lee were locked up in a cell deep in the dungeons of a remote prison where the Princess would "never have to see them again," Princess Azula issued the order for the execution of her two ex-best friends. No one was particularly surprised. Certainly, there was the odd person who felt a pang of sorrow at the news, but there was no one who had expected otherwise.

Azula was known for her ruthlessness. Why hold back, simply because she had been friends with these two particular traitors? But that didn't stop a shiver of horror from running down the spines of most.

Mai and Ty Lee heard guards discussing their impending execution in the hall outside their cell. It surprised them even less than it surprised anyone else; still, Ty Lee couldn't help bursting into tears, because she had never _dreamed_ that she would be killed by, of all people, her best friend. Mai, in a rare display of emotion, gathered Ty Lee into her arms and embraced the sobbing girl.

Mai had received the shock of her life when Ty Lee had felled Azula. Mai had done what she had done with the knowledge that Azula would probably kill her. She had never _dreamed_ that Ty Lee would betray Azula as well, just for her sake.

Mai had felt an emotion well up in her then—something she had never felt before. It had taken some time before she had realized that she was feeling _loved_. Her parents had never been particularly affectionate towards her; her boyfriend had left her for some 'greater cause' of which she knew nothing. Then one of her best friends had thrown her life out the window for _Mai's_ sake

When the guards arrived the next morning to lead them to their deaths, the two girls were still embracing. Ty Lee's tears had dried hours ago, but her shoulders still shook with exhausted sobs. She knew she would never have found the strength to stand if Mai hadn't been beside her, leading her along with an arm around her shoulders.

Mai had to admit, she was much happier to die alongside Ty Lee than alone. And she knew that Ty Lee felt the same.


End file.
